Australian Open 2018: Nick Kyrgios loses to Grigor Dimitrov, but shows growth Aussie fans have wanted for years

Nick Kyrgios lost his fourth round match to Grigor Dimitrov, but gained fans in the process. (AP Photo/Andy Brownbill)Source: AP

THE post-mortem has often been an ugly one for Nick Kyrgios at his home slam.

In 2017, it was a pure meltdown, with a two-sets-to-love lead blown to Andreas Seppi and the Aussie being booed off the court.

In 2016, Kyrgios again broke mentally, arguing with the chair umpire about music coming from the crowd and losing to Tomas Berdych.

But do not listen to anyone who tries to tell you that things were the same in 2018. Because on this occasion, the post-mortem was simple. Nick Kyrgios lost to a better player who played brilliantly. And there’s no shame in that.

On Sunday night, world number three Grigor Dimitrov shook off any concerns emerging from the matches leading up to his fourth-round win over Kyrgios.

This was a man who had been taken deep into a fifth set by an unknown qualifier in the second round; not only did Dimitrov not look at his best against Kyrgios, but he was surely more tired given their respective paths to the match.

Kyrgios made more mistakes than Dimitrov. He had seven double faults — matching his total for the entire tournament. He had 56 unforced errors, compared to Dimitrov’s 27.

These are issues, yes, but it’s an improvement on previous years that the biggest issues were of the on-court variety.

Yes, he weirdly kept yelling at his friends and family to stand up, as if he physically felt pain when they were actually using their chairs. Yes, he had a little bit of a tiff with the chair umpire after being called for a foot fault.

But even that was more comedic than angry. “I haven’t been called for a foot fault for three years. It’s not possible, man, it’s not possible!” Kyrgios yelled.

“It is possible,” the umpire replied. “Yeah, I know it’s possible,” the Aussie said back.

The biggest issue most people have with Kyrgios, if they’re in the camp that has one, is about with his attitude — with the associated complaint that he’s ‘wasting his talent’.

For a start, he’s 22 years old, so he hasn’t spent much time wasting it. But if you are still complaining about Kyrgios being a brat after Sunday night, you’re probably just a bit too hard to please.

One man who has certainly been in the anti-Nick camp is John McEnroe, complaining over the years about tanking, “bonehead” behaviour and mental weakness among other issues.

Yet even he was positive about Kyrgios during the match while commentating for ESPN, and was clearly impressed in the aftermath.

“I hope he takes away a lot of positives. I haven’t associated Nick with hanging in there. He competed as hard as he ever did,” McEnroe said.

Even two sets down, Nick was indeed hanging in there — even if he wasn’t thrilled with his racquet tension.

“(You had) all day to figure it out. One thing with the racquet, it’s all you had to do,” Kyrgios said towards his friends and family.

“Really smart, well done,” he sarcastically added.

Yes, he was trying to find something or someone to blame in that moment. But historically those moments have seen Kyrgios veer off course; the Seppi match last year comes to mind.

Instead, two sets down, he kept fighting. Dimitrov’s strength in the match was not letting Kyrgios play his second serve — the Bulgarian won 81 per cent of points from his first serve and just 40 per cent from his second.

Kyrgios will want to work on his returns, but it was as much about waiting as anything, waiting for Dimitrov to lose his rhythm — for a man that hasn’t shown patience, that’s not a simple request.

But he broke back in the third set, and then with Dimitrov serving for the match in the fourth, broke back again. Kyrgios won more Dimitrov service games than vice-versa — it was the little moments, the little flips of the coin in the three tiebreaks that cost him.

This was a match Kyrgios could have won. You can fairly argue it was a match he should have won, really.

But he didn’t. And that’s fine. Kyrgios said as much during his pre-tournament press conference.

Nick Kyrgios walks off court. Photo: Saeed Khan (AFP)Source: AFP

“I think last year there were periods where I was really good and really bad. But at the end of the day I just need to know it’s a long year,” he said.

“I can’t expend too much energy, you know, on other things. I want to kind of ride the highs, not as high as I usually do. If I lose a match, at the end of the day it’s a tennis match.

“I kind of want to keep it evenkeeled throughout the whole year rather than being such a rollercoaster ride.”

Kyrgios lived those words on Sunday night, even if he was bitterly disappointed in the moment.

“Keep your head up,” a member of the crowd yelled out at one point in the third set.